SHMOOP #3 – Internet Privacy and Security Activity: Without A (Big) Trace: Managing Your Digital Footprint

Instructions

Objective: Students scatter e-tracks online every day – big and small, positive and inappropriate, those that reach a few friends and others that hit hundreds or more viewers. Students may not be aware of all the information that companies collect about them and use. In this activity, students play investigator and assess their online activities and the kinds of digital tracks that they are leaving online. Students consider the implications of their "digital tattoos" and do action research to piece together the footprints that they've left behind – deliberately or not – on the information super freeway.

Materials Needed: 

• Computers with Internet access

Step 1 (5 mins):  Class watch a quick video introducing the concept of a digital footprint.

Class Discussion:  

1. Have you ever considered that everything you do online might be seen by others?

2. What websites do you like to go on, and what do you do on them? What websites do you have usernames for?

3. With all the things you've posted on the Internet already, is there anything you wouldn't like the whole world to be able to see?

Step 2 (5 mins):  Class watch a video of digital footprint non-taxicab confessions (created by the Digital Tattoo Project) and class discussion to answer the following questions:

1. What types of information do the first three or four individuals in the video think is out there about them on the Internet? Is it appropriate? Do you think they all feel good about it? Why or why not? 

2. What info do you think is out there about you online? Do you feel good about what's out there? Why or why not? 

3. When it comes to the Internet, is it helpful or harmful to have a common name that a lot of other people also have?

Step 3 (15 mins): According to the website, a digital tattoo is "your digital identity. Just like a tattoo, your digital reputation is an expression of yourself. It is formed and added to by you and others over time."  Follow instructions on the left-hand side of the websites and search for your names (first and last together possibly in quotation marks) on the following websites:

• http://pipl.com/

• http://www.spezify.com/ 

• http://personas.media.mit.edu/personasWeb.html

• www.peoplefinders.com
• http://www.zabasearch.com/
  

In addition, search for yourself on:

• http://www.google.com/

• http://www.bing.com/

• http://www.yahoo.com/

• http://www.images.google.com

Take notes on all the information you are able to find out about yourself. At half time, search the Web for someone else and record all the information that you find out about them.

Step 4 (5 mins):  Class discussion on the following questions:

1. So tell me some of the things that you found out about yourself. Did any of them surprise you? Are you surprised to find that information about yourself publicly available? 

2. Was anyone alarmed by anything that they found about themselves online? If so, can you think of what action, if any, you might take about this to have the information removed? 

3. Did you find out anything surprising about your partners?

Step 5 (10 mins):  Copy & paste the following questions into a Google Doc and answer the questions in complete sentences, restating the question in your answers.  Class watches "Digital Dossier"  

1. What is a digital dossier? 

2. When does it start? 

3. What is the first ever part of Andy's digital dossier? 

4. When Andy is born, what information does his digital bracelet have? 

5. When Andy goes on Neopets, what information does he provide about himself? 

6. What information does Andy post on Facebook? What does Facebook do with this information? 

7. What does Google do with the searches that Andy performs? 

8. What happens when Andy buys something from Amazon? 

9. What does Andy's cell phone GPS do? 

10. What happens when Andy gets married? 

11. What will happen to Andy's dossier when he dies? 

12. Think about what you found out about yourself in our previous activity. What does your digital dossier say about you?

Standards Met

• Common Core Standards: ELA 6-8th Grade Standards: Reading 1; Reading for Informational Text 1, 4; Writing 2d, 3d, 5, 6, 8; Speaking and Listening 1bcd, 2.